Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre

Campsfield House was an immigration detention centre located in Kidlington near Oxford, England, operated by private prison firm Group 4 under contract with the British government.

[1] On 28 June 2022, the Home Office announced plans for a new immigration removal centre to be developed on the site of the former Campsfield House IRC.

Throughout the centre there were surveillance cameras, and friends and relatives wishing to visit detainees were searched before passing through five separate remote-controlled doors.

This relatively relaxed regime, coupled with the new influx of ex-HMP prisoners led to difficulty in maintaining discipline at Campsfield.

[citation needed] Like all Immigration Removal Centres, Campsfield House was regularly inspected by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons.

[6] On 3 August 2010, over 100 detainees went on hunger strike in protest at being held for up to three years with "no prospect of removal or any evidence of future release".

Liz Peretz, on behalf of the Campaign to Close Campsfield, expressed deep concern over this incident, saying “This young man’s suicide must immediately raise serious questions about health and safety inside Campsfield, especially the adequacy of health and welfare provision.”[8] In March 2007, there was a riot at the centre after staff used force to remove a detainee from his room.

[11] The initial establishment of an immigration detention centre at Campsfield House was opposed by the local parish council, however they were overruled by the Home Office.

[12] In the 2010 General Election, Aaron Barschak ran as an independent candidate in the Witney constituency against David Cameron to highlight the plight of asylum seekers and the treatment of people in Campsfield House.

Plans to expand Campsfield in 2014-15 were withdrawn in March 2015 following broad opposition from the public and the sitting Conservative MP, Nicola Blackwood, who argued that the number of detainees would be too large, problems would arise from having two different buildings on one site, and the proposal didn't warrant building on green belt land.

The Home Office announced the closure of Campsfield House in November 2018 as part of a policy to reduce the use of immigration detention.

'[18] As part of the movement towards increasing the use of detention, the Home Office announced on 28 June 2022 that it was planning to expand, refurbish and reopen Campsfield House IRC.

In July 2022, shortly after the government's plans were announced, a motion was tabled at Cherwell District Council opposing the reopening of Campsfield.

[23] On Saturday 25 November 2023, over 50 people from around the county protested at the Langford Lane entrance to the disused immigration detention centre.